Elmo
Elmo is a 3-and-a-half-year old furry little red monster with an orange nose. He is best known to be very popular with toddlers since 1998, and hosts his own segment on Sesame Street, titled "Elmo's World." Today, Elmo was considered the second most popular, best-known Muppet character, next to Kermit the Frog. Origins Caroll Spinney, the performer behind Big Bird and Oscar, stated that he performed a Baby Monster character in a series of "Monster Family" skits in the early seasons of Sesame Street since the second or third seasons in 1970-1971, and confused this character to be the same puppet who eventually became Elmo. But the Baby Monster, however, was likely Billy Monster, who is a small, hot-pink AM monster, and he appeared during that timeframe between Seasons 2 and 3. Jbrangwynne53 has confirmed on a discussion board on Muppet Wiki that the character Billy looks similar enough to Elmo for Spinney to mistake as the Baby Monster he used to perform in the "Monster Family" skits during Seasons 2 and 3. Now, the real Elmo-esque red monster officially began his life on Sesame Street in 1979, debuting in Season 11, but his character was shockingly not originated by his current performer Kevin Clash. Originally, he was actually just an unnamed background AM Monster, like all the other unnamed AM Monsters who appeared during that time (i.e. Harvey Monster, Maurice Monster, etc.) and was also performed by various puppeteers at the time, including Kathryn Mullen (in "Near Far Monsters") and Jerry Nelson (in "We Are All Monsters" and "Me Claudius"). Elmo first received his name "Elmo" on Season 12 of Sesame Street in 1981, and was performed by Brian Muehl with a high, whispery voice (no clips of this can be found online, aside from a recently-found audio clip). At that time, Elmo also joined the show along with other new characters like Telly Monster (another character Muehl performed at the time), Forgetful Jones, and the Honkers. Muehl peformed Elmo on Sesame Street ''for five years from Seasons 12-15, until he retired from the show in 1984. After Muehl left the show, Richard Hunt, the performer behind Scooter from ''The Muppet Show, briefly took on Elmo but only for Season 16 of Sesame Street in 1984. He performed Elmo with a gruff caveman voice and a rowdy persona, but after only a few episodes, Hunt was mad about his role on Elmo, and, frustrated, he grabbed Elmo by the hand-rods, stepped into the show's green room, and threw the puppet at Kevin Clash, asking him to change Elmo's character and give him a different voice. Clash then gave Elmo his recognizable falsetto, and has performed Elmo in Season 17 of Sesame Street in 1985 and had been performing him ever since that time until mid-2012, and, after Clash's resignation from Sesame Workshop due to his accusation of improper sexual contact, Ryan Dillon now took on the role of Elmo since 2013 and still performing him today. Trivia * Elmo's earliest known television appearance was in the Monsterpiece Theater sketch "Me, Claudius," where he (unnamed at the time), Harvey Monster, Maurice Monster, and Bruce Monster fight over which one is Claudius. Jerry Nelson performed Elmo here. Casting History * Jerry Nelson and Kathryn Mullen - only during Season 11 of Sesame Street ''(1979-1980) * Brian Muehl - ''Sesame Street Seasons 12-15 (1981-1984) * Richard Hunt - Sesame Street ''Season 16 (1984) * Kevin Clash - ''Sesame Street Season 16 (1985)-Season 44 (2012) * Ryan Dillon - Sesame Street Season 44 (2013)-present Videos File:80's Pre-Elmo-thon File:Brian Muehl's Elmo voice Category:Characters